Last week was a week full of gravel bikes so we've tried to keep up the momentum this week, getting more mountain bikes in and out to their test riders. There is a new Giant Trance 29er and a kids Merida ready to be put through the wringer soon. We've also got the new Hurly Burly downhill book for 2019 and two cool tools from Lezyne.

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Giant Trance 29 3

This bike is the bottom of the range one from the Trance 29 model line up, costing £2,099. For those who don't know you can get a Trance with either 27.5" wheels or 29er's and there's a carbon 29er version too. This Trance 29 3 gets mix of kit, there's a SRAM SX drivetrain, Shimano MT400/401 brakes, a Marzocchi Z2 fork and Fox Float DPS shock. The spec choices on the two different wheel size models are not all like for like though, you can get a 27.5" bike for the same money but it gets Rockshox fork and shock. 

• £2,099
• www.giant-bicycles.com

Merida Matts J.24 +

This little Merida is a rigid kids bike with 24" wheels, hydraulic brakes and 8-speed Altus gears, weighing in a t 10.5kg, not the lightest but not wildly out of control either for a larger kits mountain bike. It looks pretty cool, comes in three different colours and costs £450. 

• £450
• www.merida-bikes.com
   

Hurly Burly 4

The Hurly Burly book is back for another year, year number four in fact. As you know by now, it's a complete round up of 2019's UCI Downhill World Cup series in glorious print. This is coffee table fodder at it's finest. You can get one for £15 plus £2 postage, perfect for a soggy Sunday on the sofa. 

• £15
• www.hurlyburlybook.com

Lezyne T-Drive

A small but potentially super-useful multitool, as long as you are careful with all the pieces. A removable handle inserts to create a T-shaped multitool with the following bits;  2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm and 8mm, Allen keys, T10, T25 and T30, a flat-head and a phillips head. It's all packaged up in a tiny case that is about 12cm long and weighs a claimed 153g.

•  £35
• www.ride.lezyne.com

Lezyne Torque Drive

Another neat tool from Lezyne the Torque Drive gets the same removable handle as the above tool but this time there's a torsion beam mechanism, the axle down the middle of the shaft twists a known amount for each newton-metre of torque with a visual gauge on the end of the tool to show the torque applied.

• £50
• www.upgradebikes.co.uk

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